Libya Today

Libya today is free of Qadaffi’s spell. His regime is totally overthrown and his power-base is destroyed unlike Egypt or Tunisia where the old order is still entrenched in the political and economic structure of both countries. The power-base unlike the old days in Qadaffi’s hands and now is distributed between state institutions i.e. general national congress, government etc., tribes, civil society groups and temporarily militia groups in parts of the country such as Misrata and Zintan. However, Qadaffi’s legacy and temperament are still there.

Since we have designed a political process and sat timeline which we stuck to, and somehow we impressed the world by the peaceful election and transition of power we have made whether at local level or nationwide in general election that produced 200 member general national congress.

However, Qadaffi’s sympathisers (whom I call the defeated) are still there and we need to bring them into the political process as an opposition if we want to be inclusive. We must invite and welcome all those who have not committed crimes and are willing to participate positively in the new Libya after renouncing all forms of violence and accepting peaceful and democratic means of change. Libyans are solely relying on themselves and the economy has kicked off with inflation on the rise, and needs to diversify and stem deficit. More importantly Libyans’ expectations are too high and overall are positive which something we need to manage much better.

The spread of weapons is still problematic in the hands of militias and individuals and no one knows the solution to. Moreover, the main threats are regionalist and political partisans much more than Islamic or tribal. Over all the country feels it is going in the right direction even though we are not sure about where we are going to.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it! If you want to leave a comment, please use your real name and adhere to The Fletcher School comment policy, http://www.fletcherforum.org/comment-policy